October 24 Safe Tech International News and Notes

Wi-Fi and Woodpeckers, AI and Addiction, Coddling of American Mind, 260 is the Magic Number,

Futurism has quickly become a favorite newsletter for me. “We cover the market-moving and world-shaking technological and scientific developments changing the world. This isn’t a site to read about personal or “retail” technologies. On Futurism, you’ll find news about the titans of industry changing the world (and possibly, the worlds beyond ours), as well as the developments of the emergent innovations that will affect every single one of our lives — if they don’t already. The vast majority of what you’ll see on the site is news-oriented; we also publish features, interviews, and the occasional opinion piece. We strive to provide readers not just with news, but the smart sensibility and gimlet-eyed perspective they won’t find anywhere else.”

Every night Fururism’s post starts with an often-amusing headline for example: The Future Is Losing A $400K Salary Over A Tube Of Toothpaste, and The Future Is Being Stalked By Your Robot Vacuum and The Future Is Bracing For Impact.

TRIGGER WARNING: The October 23 headline is The Future Is Officially In Desperate Need Of Regulation, As You're About To Read which includes the story Teen Dies by Suicide After Becoming Obsessed With AI Chatbot. (link under AI below)

At the same time, news is making the rounds about ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin' Review: A Poignant Netflix Documentary About a Boy Who Lived in His Favorite Video Game Now arrives "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin," a clever and heartfelt tribute to someone Ree knew as a child - before Mats Steen's all too brief existence was defined by the muscular dystrophy syndrome that seemingly deprived him of the chance to meet friends, fall in love, and otherwise make a lasting impression on the people outside of his immediate family. When the 25-year-old Steen died in 2014, however, nobody was more surprised than his parents to discover the full extent of the legacy their son had managed to leave behind. That's why he bequeathed them the password to his blog: So that his parents could post news of his death, and see from the onslaught of loving replies that Mats' life was so much bigger than they had ever dared to imagine. It was so much bigger than his body was ever thought to allow. Robert and Trude Steen were aware that their son had spent more than 20,000 hours playing "World of Warcraft" during the last and most incapacitated years of his life (they had always encouraged him to game, if only because they wanted his days to be filled with whatever joy he could find), but they had no idea about the depth of the relationships that Mats was forming in the digital realm of Azeroth, nor had it ever occurred to them how those relationships might spill over into our analog reality. It was only after Mats died that Robert and Trude came to appreciate what their son had written in his blog: The computer is "not a screen, it's a gateway to whatever your heart desires." And that gateway operates in both directions. What the Steens desired after Mats' death was a deeper understanding of who their son was beneath his disease, and what they found on his hard drive were 42,000 pages of in-game text that effectively told the story of how Mats had spent the last 10 years of his life. MSN

These are hard discernments. I don’t have a disabled child. But we don’t need to be wearing tech or to have it implanted to lose ourselves and our capacities and real time relationships, by design. Tik Tok discovered that the number of videos needed to induce addiction in users is 260.

In his book “The Informed Heart” Holocaust survivor Bruno Bettelheim describes ‘the dangerous gap between our technical abilities and our "heart" or moral compass that informs how we put new technologies to use.’ At the time, he was concerned about the practice of placing disabled children in front of televisions. Rudolf Steiner founded the Camphill Community movement. “Camphill is a vivid tapestry of people – with and without disabilities – sharing our daily lives and connecting through home, work, nature, food, art, and spirituality. Together, we weave into a diverse and inclusive community that evolves with us, creating a sense of belonging as we care for each other.”

How we care, and whether or not we care enough to address tech’s downsides, is the challenge of these times. I agree with Futurism: The Future Is Officially In Desperate Need Of Regulation.

Please don’t despair at the growing sense of unease; The lack of ability to digest is an impulse of species intelligence and survival instinct. Trust your gut. (Read here about Radiant Circuits and Penetrating Flow.)

If you have not yet listened, please tune in to Keith’s recording of Wifi, and the Woodpecker, below posted (1 1/4 MINUTES). “I'll explain what the Russian Woodpecker is in a moment, but first, here's an example of what I heard the first time I experienced WiFi through my meter's sound demodulation feature compared with a historical recording of the Woodpecker from the so-called Cold War.”

FEATURED:

ESSENTIAL READING/LISTENING: Keith Cutter, EMF Wisdom Why is WiFi so Uniquely Harmful? RF exposure, pulse-modulated multipliers, 10Hz ELF brain disruption, and WiFi memory effect in body tissues. “I loathe WiFi for what it has stolen from my clients—their health, peace, livelihoods, and arguably — their lives. I loathe it because it divides us, turning places of work, worship, and dwelling into uninhabitable wastelands. I loathe it for its insidious power to lure people unknowingly into a life forever marked by electrical sensitivity and for how it recruits the unaware—useful idiots—into harming not only themselves but those around them, deepening the tragedy of this unseen force.”

Why is WiFi so Uniquely Harmful?

Note: Even if you don’t “hear it” your brain and nerves most likely do, at a cost; and, there are those who do hear the wave of thermoelastic pressure in the brain’s tissue, like herding dogs who detect an incoming storm.

FEATURED:

Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields: Thirty years of research (Dr. Henry Lai) The preponderance of research published from 1990 through October 2024 has found significant effects from exposure to radio frequency radiation as well as to extremely low frequency and static electromagnetic fields. Dr. Henry Lai, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Editor Emeritus of the journal, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, and an emeritus member of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of EMF, has compiled summaries of the research on the biological effects of exposure to radio frequency (RFR) and extremely low frequency (ELF) and static electromagnetic fields (EMF). His set of abstracts which cover the period from 1990 to October 2024 constitute a comprehensive collection of the research. Dr. Lai reports that the preponderance of the research has found that exposure to RFR or ELF EMF produces oxidative effects or free radicals, and damages DNA. Moreover the preponderance of RFR studies that examined genetic, neurological and reproductive effects has found significant effects. Among hundreds of studies of RFR, 71% to 89% reported significant effects. Among hundreds of studies of ELF and static fields, 75% to 90% reported significant effects. Electromagnetic Radiation Safety: Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields: Thirty years of research According to Dr. Lai, 95% of 237 low-intensity (SAR < 0.40 W/kg) radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure studies published since 1990 reported significant effects: "This means that biological systems are very sensitive to RFR."  Moreover, "It is clear that the current RFR exposure guidelines are not valid in the protection of the health detrimental effects of RFR." Currently, there are about 2,500 studies in Dr. Henry Lai's collection of research on the effects of exposure to RFR and static or ELF electromagnetic fields (EMF). The abstracts for these studies can be downloaded by clicking on the links. Electromagnetic Radiation Safety: Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields: Thirty years of research

NEWS AND NOTES

AI: Teen Dies by Suicide After Becoming Obsessed With AI Chatbot The company behind the chatbot refuses to say how many of its users are minors. https://futurism.com/teen-suicide-obsessed-ai-chatbot

AI: Baidu CEO warns AI is just an inevitable bubble — 99% of AI companies are at risk of failing when the bubble bursts Silicon Valley has had one too many episodes of companies transforming from rags to riches. Today, we see giants like Nvidia and OpenAI at the frontiers of Artificial Intelligence—with every single company now in full throttle to get their hands on a piece of the pie. Interestingly, Baidu CEO Robin Li, speaking at the Harvard Business Review's Future of Business conference, predicts that AI is just another bubble, like the dot-com bubble. Ultimately, only 1% of companies will remain afloat in this cutthroat industry. MSN

AI: Is OpenAI more like WeWork or Theranos? A tale of two analogies “In addition to the specific mix of greed, bad corporate governance, and too much “next” Steve Jobs”, Joyner concluded, “Theranos thrived in a biomedical innovation world that has become prisoner to a seemingly endless supply of hype. That so many high-profile individuals and institutions fed and continue to feed the hype makes me think it is just a matter of time until we see the arrival of Theranos 2.0.” One doesn’t have to strain to hard to think of possible analogies. AI ought to be looking itself in the mirror, too, right about now. GARY MARCUS SUBSTACK

AI: NAKED CAPITALISM The Dark Side of AI-Powered Synthetic Biology | naked capitalism COURTESY TOM

AI: “End of an Era”: OpenAI’s AGI Readiness Chief Resigns and Team is Disbanded Miles Brundage was one of the last of the AI safety old guard at OpenAI. He thinks the world is not ready for powerful AI. The OpenAI exodus continues. Journalist Garrison Lovely wrote this thoughtful piece analyzing what the latest departure, Miles Brundage, might mean. SUBSTACK

AUTOMOBILES EVS: Salt water and electric vehicles The Fire Marshal stated that, “11 electric vehicles and 48 lithium-ion batteries caught fire in Hurricane Helen.” It is apparent that flood waters have triggered the battery fires. It is important for lithium-ion battery owners to understand the fire damage from the saltwater. It was reported that hurricane Ian caused hundreds of electric vehicle fires across Florida including 36 that ignited after being exposed to water damage. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that due to hurricane Ian in 2022, between 3,000 and 5,000 Electric Vehicles were damaged in Florida with 600 vehicles deemed a total loss, with 36 catching on fire.   NORM LAMBE

CELLPHONES This is how American adults feel about phones in school MSN

CELLPHONES: New Report Adds to Evidence That Cellphone Radiation May Cause Brain Cancer South Korean researchers — who analyzed 24 studies and published their report on Oct. 10 in Environmental Health — found significantly higher risks for malignant brain tumors, meningioma and glioma on the side of the head where cellphones were held. CHILDREN’S HEALTH DEFENSE

CHILDREN YOUTH CELLPHONES: Be ScreenStrong Think your teen will honor that family smartphone contract? Think again Why asking your child to sign a smartphone contract is a recipe for conflict

CHILDREN YOUTH: The Coddling of the American Mind is available for streaming on Amazon starting today! Based on the book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt and produced by Ted Balaker , this documentary is a must-watch, especially if you have teens heading off to college. With canceling culture in full swing and about one in six professors saying that, “they have been punished or threatened with punishment for their speech, teaching, or research”, this film delivers an urgently needed message. I went to view it together with my kids at a local theatre that offered a live discussion following the screening, and there was wide consensus in the audience that the film not only exposed how students are being manipulated by cancel culture, but also offered a hopeful and much needed return to sanity. SUBSTACK

CHILDREN AFTER BABEL FREYA INDIA: We Live In Imaginary Worlds This is all one big hallucination (Does anyone really believe that an app will be “the antidote to America’s loneliness epidemic”?) But I’ve noticed that, recently, the latest “solutions” have nothing to do with meeting in real life. They aren’t encouraging face-to-face friendships or trying to create new communities. They don’t even pretend anymore. At least friendship apps had the pretence of meeting up in person, even if it was always one more swipe or premium package away. Now these solutions have nothing to do with the real world. Now we are being invited into imaginary worlds. [] This is why I’m skeptical of headlines I’ve seen over the years declaring that children have lost their imaginary friends. “Children have fewer invisible playmates than before,” we are warned. “Children too busy with their iPads to have an imaginary friend,” nursery workers say. I understand what they mean. But they haven’t really lost them. They just replaced them. What do we think children are doing when they’re laughing along with YouTubers, alone in their rooms? Eating dinner with influencers? Simulating FaceTime with strangers? Watching gamers play with their friends? Listening to girls gossip on podcasts? Kids haven’t lost their imaginary friends; they have more than ever before. They replaced play-based imaginary friends with phone-based imaginary friends. And for some, those “friends” are all they have left.  Because, when we think about it, all of this is imaginary. Not only AI boyfriends and girlfriends, but all of social media. SUBSTACK

CHILDREN JOHN HAIDT: The Joy of Missing Out: Lessons from a Church-Wide Digital Detox How Churches can help roll back the phone-based life

CHD: September 26: Radiation Exposure Damages Our Bodies https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/radiation-exposure-damages-our-bodies/  September 26: EMR Update September 2024 https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/emr-news/emr-news-update-august-2024-week4/ Wireless technology: is it harmless or life-altering? Damning research continues to emerge on the harmful, multi-generational impacts that our cell towers, handheld devices, smart gadgets and in-home routers have on human health. From elementary classrooms to apartment buildings, public playgrounds to grocery aisles — we can access the internet from almost anywhere. But what are the long-term effects? Meryl Nass and Ginny Silcox weigh in on this important topic, on “Good Morning CHD,” followed by Wes Walker’s “EMR News Update.”September 26: EMR Update September 2024 https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/emr-news/emr-news-update-august-2024-week4/

CRYPTO POLITICS: A wave of crypto-friendly lawmakers is about to crash Congress A $160 million super PAC spending spree is set to give the industry an army of allies in the House and Senate, and across party lines. POLITICO

EMF EINAR NORWAY: Everyday radiation: Hands over documentation to the Storting and the government on harmful health effects "They should not be able to say that they did not know," says Sissel Halmøy, Secretary General of the People's Radiation Protection Authority. On 29 October, the organization will appear at the Storting with a pile of documentation showing the harmful effects of mobile radiation on radiation levels many people are exposed to in Norway today. Everyday radiation: Hands over documentation to the Storting and the government on harmful health effects | I have something on my mind...

EMF: Leszczynski 2 posters at the ARPS 2024 The lack of diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS): A volunteer questionnaire study AND Twenty years later: Proteomics as a tool in search of physiological effects of exposures to wireless radiation

ENERGY: Advocates issue PSA about alarming side effect of planned energy project: 'Every action has a consequence' A recent report by E&E News highlighted a project key to an expansion of wind power in Nebraska, though it poses a dangerous threat to the endangered American burying beetle.  The planned 226-mile transmission line was originally set to be completed in 2018. The Endangered Species Act has certain protections for endangered species, like the American burying beetle, which has delayed the transmission line plans. The planned power line would pass through areas identified as habitats for the beetle, raising concerns among environmentalists and conservationists. Disrupting the habitats of endangered species can lead to extinction and further ecological imbalance, potentially resulting in more environmental degradation.  While the intention of renewable energy projects is to reduce carbon pollution, the projects' effect on neighboring communities can often be collateral damage. MSN

ENERGY: GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind to remove additional blades from Nantucket wind farm The decision is part of the company's action plan, after a blade broke into the water in July.  GE Vernova also said they will be strengthening existing blades as needed. MSN

ENVIROMENT/POLLUTION/OT: It’s Time To Disclose What’s Hiding Under Our Lawns For Decades, Utilities Sold Their Leftovers As A Cheap Substitute For Soil. Now Cancer-Causing Coal Ash Is In Communities & Most People Don't Know About It. The Brockovich Report SUBSTACK

5G 6G; 6G WIRELESS SUMMIT https://www.6gsummit.com/proceedings/keynote3_public/  SLIDES: PowerPoint Presentation COURTESY JIMMY

HAVANA SYNDROME: ARTE Highlights ‘Havana Syndrome’ ARTE Distribution, the international program sales unit of the European public channel ARTE, is at MIPCOM with a catalog of over 4,000 hours of documentaries. Spearheading the slate is new docu-series Havana Syndrome: America Under Threat. The doc lifts the veil over the stories of several U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers who were the victims of a series of mysterious attacks they initially called “The Thing”. It all started with an immaculate crime scene, a piercing noise, and American state officers who suddenly developed mysterious symptoms. Yet, no doctor or scientist could determine what happened. This unique investigation addresses the sensitive topic by discussing the medical condition through high-profile interviews with the people who experienced it first-hand. VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL

HEALTH DR. STILLMAN: How Minerals and Metals Make or Break Your Mind! Learn how nutritional balancing can help you How Minerals and Metals Make or Break Your Mind! 1 1/2 hour video

HEALTH: Study exposes one major drawback to wearing fitness trackers A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association revealed that wearing fitness trackers to monitor heart conditions, such as an irregular heartbeat or atrial fibrillation, can induce anxiety. The researchers merged survey and electronic health record data of over 172 patients over a 9-month period to compare wearable users and non-users.  MSN

‘HEALTH’ INSPIRATION: School of the Unconformed: The Walking Rebellion: Restoring the Mind at Three Miles an Hour Peco and I walked a combined 100 km while thinking and talking about “The Walking Rebellion”. Over the last two decades we walked an estimated 20,000 km. Just yesterday I walked for two hours to the local university and back, a busy four-lane road with cars zipping by to my right, sparrows peeping in the bushes to my left. We could have chosen to write this essay by referencing the well-known insights from famous walkers such as Rousseau, Kirkegaard, Nietzsche, or Solnit, but we have noticed that the more we have walked, the more their insights sprang naturally out of the act of walking itself¹. Because we walk so habitually, it is easy to take for granted, and to forget that walking is a central part of what restores our minds at so many levels. In his recent piece Ted Gioia discusses “eight pillars of connection” including connecting with nature, people, history and tradition, and spiritual or higher values, that are all under “simultaneous attack” in our current culture. But it is hard to counter that attack. Aaron Long, who recently graded his students’ reflections on going screen free for a day, points out that, Young adults aren't in denial about their devices’ adverse effects. But screens are so addictive and so pervasive, and they've been part of twentysomethings’ lives for so long, that many people that age don't think a low-screen-exposure existence is a realistic hope. The Walking Rebellion: Restoring the Mind at Three Miles an Hour

HEALTH SWEDEN INSPIRATION, AFFIRMATIONS, FREQUENCIES, SPIRITUAL Do Energy work to protect Your mind & soul. – most people need it more now Questions: Do You want to have technology in Your body that is bad for Your health and is controlled by someone else? Do You want someone/something else to control Your mind and emotions? Are You prepared to let this go on until Your soul is compromised and You can legally be declared a cyborg that is owned by the tech company due to copyright laws? Do Energy work to protect Your mind & soul. – istory Courtesy Jimmy

HOUSING OT: Co-Living Could Unlock Office-to-Residential Conversions New research finds efficient method to add low-cost, downtown housing The United States has a shortage of 4 million to 7 million homes and, at the same time, an all-time-high office vacancy rate of 20%, meaning that more than a billion square feet of office space is unused. But despite the urgent need for housing—and many local policymakers’ desire to convert underused office space to apartments to help revitalize downtowns that lost residents and businesses during the pandemic—construction costs remain too high to make most such conversions profitable, even with today’s high market rents in many U.S. cities and towns. But new research from The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm, has identified a more economically viable approach to office-to-residential conversions using a design that reduces construction costs and enables low rents that are affordable for people earning well below an area’s median income. Rather than conventional apartments, the design calls for converting buildings to co-living dorm-style apartments. Each floor features private, locked “microunits” along the perimeter, with shared kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, and living rooms in the center. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/10/22/co-living-could-unlock-office-to-residential-conversions

INDUSTRY: T-Mobile Gives Up Some 5G mmW Spectrum Because It’s Use is so Limited In the early days of the race to push 5G live, carriers like Verizon jumped on 5G mmWave as the solution to deploy 5G quickly and to showcase what the future with 5G might look like. You see, 5G mmWave was insanely fast when a device was connected to it, often times showcasing speeds north of 1Gbps. It was used to give a brief view of the potential of 5G as the industry couldn’t help but overpromise on the graduation from 4G LTE. As we now have seen, 5G mmWave was indeed super fast, but it was panned pretty early on because of its terrible reach and need for direct line-of-sight to a tower in order to achieve a quality connection. This type of 5G struggled to work around or through trees and buildings and windows, meaning it wasn’t a great solution for those working in office buildings and not sitting their entire day at an outdoor cafe with a mmWave tower across the street. T-Mobile explained to the FCC that 5G mmWave spectrum is useful “in venues like arenas and stadiums during widely attended events to ease network congestion,” but even then it is struggles to meet their performance requirements. Again, as I mentioned above, mmWave’s problems start when you don’t have direct line-of-sight and even in a stadium or arena, those are problems you can’t avoid. The spectrum that T-Mobile is giving up includes county-size areas around Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Atlanta, Miami, Brooklyn, Dallas, and Fort Worth. They’ll still keep some 5G mmWave areas active in those cities (mostly in downtown sections), but the areas are a fraction of the size. T-Mobile Abandons 5G mmWave Plans and That's Probably OK

AND (conflicting narrative): Vodafone, Qualcomm and Ericsson complete 5G mmWave trials in the UK The successful trial paves the way for high-speed and high-capacity connectivity services in complex scenarios, such as Fixed Wireless Access for home broadband and addressing mobile network congestion in busy locations. ERICSSON

INDUSTRY: FWA and the Urban Digital Divide There are network issues with using FWA on any mass scale. Carriers aren’t talking about the network management side of FWA in any detail, but from various corporate announcements it seems like FWA is mostly intended to monetize excess bandwidth capacity at towers. That means that in any given neighborhood, there is some natural cap on the number of customers an FWA carrier is willing to serve to not harm normal cellphone traffic. While carriers don’t want to talk about it, there is a lot of evidence that the wireless broadband signal varies in strength and is not nearly as stable as landline broadband. FWA is not a great technical solution for dense MDU properties and is probably best used for single-family homes and small businesses. Deploying FWA on a significant scale means making new investments. I can’t imagine that cellular carriers are interested in making investments in infrastructure and marketing costs to sell FWA broadband in low-income neighborhoods. Expanding an FWA network means constructing new cell sites, probably small cell sites, and involves getting fiber backbone to new sites. But I can picture various kinds of partnerships between a City and cellular carriers that might work. POTS AND PANS

INDUSTRY: Cable Giants Now Losing Broadband Customers To Home 5G, Community-Owned Fiber For much of the last decade, cable giants like Comcast (Xfinity) and Charter (Spectrum) have been protected from TV “cord cutting” by one simple fact: they enjoyed a monopoly over broadband access across vast swaths of the U.S. That monopoly means that if a customer ditched traditional TV, Comcast or Charter could recoup any losses simply by charging captive customers even more for broadband.[] This Reuters breakdown mostly focuses on the popularity of residential 5G connections, which wireless companies are selling at discounted rates to slurp up customers. The growth may not last; 5G connections are inherently going to be less reliable and more congested (especially in rural markets with less fiber backhaul) as more subscribers sign up. The Reuters article completely forgets to mention that the infrastructure bill is poised to throw $42.5 billion in new subsidies at deploying fiber. And while a lot of that will go to cable giants for expansion, a lot of it is also going to be headed to municipal fiber builds, cooperatives, city-owned utilities, and other community-owned alternatives to “big cable.”[] Once customers get a taste of affordable (usually around $70 a month) gigabit fiber with no sneaky usage caps, contracts, or hidden fees — they don’t tend to be eager to head back to Comcast. Such networks saw a big explosion during the COVID lockdowns, which painfully highlighted the shortcomings of slow, spotty, expensive, and capped broadband access. That said, Comcast and Charter still enjoy a monopoly across huge swaths of the U.S., so they’re not likely to go extinct any time soon. And they broadly enjoy a well-lobbied congress and captured regulators, eager to protect them from competition and accountability. Still, it’s lovely to see them facing some kind of meaningful competition after decades of downright apathy. TECH DIRT

INSPIRATION: Who Are the Resonators? Dismantling the False Frequencies The Resonators: The Ones Who Break the Frequency In the landscape of the scripted ones and the false books, there exists a rare breed—those who can hear the faintest hum of a different frequency. They are the ones who feel the vibrations that ripple beneath the surface of reality, those who sense the limitations of the scripted world but refuse to accept them. They are the Resonators. The Resonators are not mere rebels or revolutionaries; they are frequency breakers—individuals who have attuned themselves to the resonance of the heart, rather than the rhythm of the false narrative that governs most lives. They do not fight the system through violence or direct confrontation, for the false script thrives on conflict. Instead, they disrupt the patterns of control by tuning themselves to a higher truth, a frequency that breaks the script. They are not here to rewrite the same old books, but to dissolve them entirely by aligning with the raw, unfiltered frequencies of creation itself. [] Conclusion: The Way of the Resonator The way of the Resonator is not an easy path, for it requires a constant attunement to the unknown, to the frequencies that exist beyond the control of the Elites and the false books. But it is the only path that leads to true freedom—the freedom to create, to dream, and to resonate with the infinite potential of existence. SUBSTACK HERE (COURTESY ARTHUR O)

INSPIRATION: Remastering Capitalism If our economic system were an album, it would sound helluva distorted The components of our metaphor can be combined. We might imagine life under capitalism as a situation in which we’re all tied together in a vast system in which almost evolutionary pressures start to emerge. They push up the volume slider on your Homo Economicus track while affecting the frequency of all your others. Making a living in that situation while remaining true to yourself is hampered by the fact that the dominant tendencies of the system stand like a bridge between you and your survival, forcing you to submit your dreams and authentic self to systemic restrictions. If you want to be an artist, learn to make it comply with the strictures of the market (or find a rich philanthropist who’ll insulate you from it). All of this affects the master track of our being. That said, all of us will also attempt to alter this by adding in our own external effects units. For example, some might turn to religion, radical politics, underground grime music or meditation to provide some counterbalance to the dominant setup, while the dominant setup will try to re-route those very same impulses back through the capitalist mixing desk. In some ways that sounds bleak, but this metaphor also provides us with some ways to think about creatively altering our system. How would you go about remixing your track levels? How would you boost the bass? How would you remaster the economy around you? SUBSTACK

INSPIRATION: The Analog Family And I’m imagining that someday my own sons will be sitting by my deathbed, holding my hand, telling stories about things they remember from this brief, fleeting time we had together on earth.   This is it. This is all we get. Memento Mori This is all we get.

LIGHTING: Zaid K. Dahhaj from The Circadian Classroom The Sunglasses Obsession: A Look Behind the Shades

MEDIA: I am (not) one of the 57 most powerful people in media Yesterday, New York Magazine, a biweekly periodical produced in the state of New York, released its “Power Issue,” featuring insidery talk about the state of the media business from “57 of the most powerful people in media”. []Power to creators The real power in media today lies with the writers and creators who have a direct line to their audiences. They are the ones who shape minds and shift culture, not the mahogany-desked bosses at CNN, the worn-sole executive editors of Hearst, or the TV anchors who serve as white noise for septuagenarians to fall asleep to after their 8 p.m. brandy. With few exceptions, the media power brokers of yesterday now oversee a series of properties with dwindling reach and a limited ability to convince anyone of anything, while the stars of new media attract larger audiences and harbor more diverse perspectives. The difference between most of the Group of 57 and independent creators—the Substackers, YouTubers, TikTokkers, and podcasters of the world—is that people actually care to listen to the latter, and their businesses are growing alongside their influence. Hamish McKenzie SUBSTACK

MINING (MAINSTREAM ARTICLE): What To Know About The Massive Lithium Discovery In Arkansas—And What It Means For EVs There might be 5.1 million to 19 million tons of lithium in the Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, researchers at the United States Geological Survey and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment found. The lithium mine, calculated using a machine-learning model and geological information that predicted maps of lithium concentration, represents 35% to 136% of the current amount of lithium estimated to be in the U.S. []Lithium could be extracted from the waste stream of the brines—deposits of groundwater rich in minerals—in the Smackover Formation. The Smackover is already commonly used by energy and mining companies to produce oil, gas and other natural resources. [] Lithium demand is projected to reach 1.5 million tons by 2025 and more than three million tons by 2030, growing exponentially due to the increased demand for electric vehicles. EVs accounted for 87% of lithium consumption, according to a 2024 report by the USGS. Nearly 14 million new EVs were registered globally last year, with sales seeing a 35% increase from 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. Battery cell production in North America will exceed 1,200 gigawatt hours by 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is enough to supply at least 12 to 15 million new EVs annually. []The study did not estimate the amount of lithium that could be extracted from the brines based on newer methods, but lithium could also be extracted from the waste stream of brines produced during oil and gas operations, the study said. Extraction projects are already ongoing at the Smackover Formation brines. MSN

SEE ALSO REPOST OF EXPLANTION OF MINING: NOT SO SIMPLE Deja vu comes to Arkansas as lithium follows oil In the energy towns of Arkansas, the coming lithium rush is bringing with it the risk of repeating the same mistakes and inequities of the past. The petroleum industry boomed here in the 1920s and peaked again in the 1960s before declining to a steady trickle over the decades that followed. But the Smackover has more to give. The brine and bromine pooled 10,000 feet below the surface contains lithium, a critical component in the batteries needed to move beyond fossil fuels. Exxon Mobil is among at least four companies lining up to draw it from the earth. It opened a test site not far from Lewisville late last year and plans to extract enough of the metal to produce 100,000 electric vehicle batteries by 2026 and 1 million by 2030. Another company, Standard Lithium, believes its leases may hold 1.8 million metric tons of the material and will spend $1.3 billion building a processing facility to handle it all. All of this has Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders predicting that her state will become the nation’s leading lithium producer.  With so much money to be made, Dunbar-Jones and other public officials find themselves being courted by extraction company executives eager to tell them what all of this could mean for the people and places they lead. So far, Dunbar-Jones and many others are optimistic. They see a looming renaissance, even as other community members acknowledge the mixed legacies of those who earn their money pulling resources from the ground. Such companies provide livelihoods, but only as long as there is something to extract, and they often leave pollution in their wake.  The companies eyeing the riches buried beneath the pine forests and bayous promise plenty of jobs and opportunities, and paint themselves as responsible stewards of the environment. But drawing brine to the surface is a water-intensive process, and similar operations in Nevada aren’t expected to create more than a few hundred permanent jobs. It’s high-paying work, but often requires advanced degrees many in this region don’t possess. Looking beyond the employment question, some local residents are wary of the companies looking to lease their land for lithium. It brings to mind memories of the unscrupulous and shady dealings common during the oil boom of a century ago. []Much of the world’s lithium is blasted out of rocks or drawn from brine left to evaporate in vast pools, leaving behind toxic residue. The companies descending on Arkansas plan to use a more sustainable method called direct lithium extraction, or DLE. It seems to be a bit more ecologically friendly and much less water-intensive than the massive pit mines or vast evaporation ponds often found in South America. It essentially pumps water into the aquifer, filters the lithium from the extracted brine, then returns it to the aquifer in what advocates call a largely closed system. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, in a report prepared for the Nature Conservancy, said that “DLE appears to offer the lowest impacts of available extraction technologies.” Still, the technology is relatively new. According to Yale Environment 360, Arkansas provides a suitable proving ground for the approach because it has abundant water, a large concentration of lithium, and an established network of wells, pipelines, and refineries. despite repeated assurances from lithium companies that the process is safe and sustainable. []Although DLE doesn’t require as much water as brine evaporation, in which that water is lost, “it is a freshwater consumption source,” Patrick Donnelly, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview with KUAF radio in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The waste generated by the process is another concern, he said, “in particular, a solid waste stream. It’s impossible for them to extract only the lithium.”  []a lithium boom in Nevada suggests it may not be all that many. Construction of the Thacker Pass mine, which could produce 80,000 metric tons of lithium annually, is expected to generate 1,500 temporary construction and other jobs — but it will only employ 300 once operational. [ Those jobs pay well, but typically require advanced training. [] Just how much money might flow into local communities remains another open question. Fossil fuel companies lease the land they drill and pay landowners royalties of 16.67 percent of their profit. So far, there is no severance tax on the metal, though the state levies a tax of $2.75 for every 1,000 barrels of the brine from which it is extracted. [] None of these things apply to lithium. So far, there is no severance tax on the metal, though the state levies a tax of $2.75 for every 1,000 barrels of the brine from which it is extracted. [] Beyond the timber companies with holdings in the region, most of the major landowners are white and wealthy, and any spoils, Henry suspects, will simply pass from one affluent family or powerful company to another [] Deja vu comes to Arkansas as lithium follows oil

MINING, LITHIUM: The Long Shadow of the Tar Sands Lithium refining and next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries rely on a byproduct of the oil industry as a key chemical input News broke yesterday that a company called Lyten plans to build a billion dollar battery manufacturing factory near Reno, Nevada — just a few miles from the offices of the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and the reservation lands of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. The factory aims to produce a newer type of battery called lithium-sulfur. Coincidentally, the two ingredients which make up the bulk of these batteries were the subject of an essay I wrote back in April of 2021, in the early days of the campaign to Protect Thacker Pass, but never published here. It’s fitting to share now, lightly edited. MAX WILBERT SUBSTACK

PHONES; Landlines may seem obsolete, but people in these states pick up their home phones the most MSN

SPACE: A satellite made by Boeing just fell apart in space Acommunications satellite built by Boeing has fallen apart while in orbit, as reported earlier by Jalopnik. On Saturday, Intelsat said its 33e satellite stopped working due to an “anomaly” before confirming its “total loss” on Monday. “We are coordinating with the satellite manufacturer, Boeing, and government agencies to analyze data and observations,” Intelsat said. The company has since established a board to conduct a “comprehensive analysis of the cause of the anomaly.” The satellite’s breakup doesn’t have great timing for Boeing, following the company’s troubled Starliner mission and a criminal fraud charge over 737 Max plane crashes, THE VERGE ON MSN

See Safe Tech International’s Space Debris, Collisions, and the Kessler Effect on this page: Microwaving Our Planet - Safe Tech International

NEWSLETTER:

RFINFO.COM RF News October 2024 News Section of website for a summary of national and international news over the last month, with links to important updates in the areas of: Mast Applications, Environment, Health and Research, Technical, Legal and Resistance,

Newsletter includes healthy spring water before and after 5G exposure:

EVENTS:

Wireless Radiation, the Elephant in the Classroom Physicians’ Health Initiative for Radiation and Environment (PHIRE) & Environmental Health Trust (EHT) Guest speaker Nobel Laureate Devra Davies Sat 9th Nov (12.30-5.30pm)
Michael Hall Lecture Theatre, Kidbrooke Park, Priory Rd, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5JA Ticket link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wireless-radiation-the-elephant-in-the-classroom-tickets-1014326486827

Enquiries:
Tel 01935 423002 (Peter, re concessions) or sallyelizabeare@icloud.com

The fully evidence-based conference will illuminate the science underpinning biological impacts of wireless radiation including neurological effects, the classification of radio frequency radiation as a Group 2B carcinogen, and specific vulnerabilities of children and adolescents. Practical, simple ways to reduce exposures at school and at home to reduce risk of negative health impacts for children and their families will be outlined. We are pleased to announce that Dr Devra Davis, epidemiologist and toxicologist, lead author on a Nobel Peace Prize-winning team, former scientific advisor to the Clinton administration, and founder of the Environmental Health Trust will be travelling from the US to explain current science published on this issue. Dr. Erica Mallery-Blythe (Special Expert at the International Commission on Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, Founder of Physicians’ Health Initiative for Radiation and Environment, Advisor for Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association and Honorary Member of the British Society of Ecological Medicine) will lecture on the evidence pertaining to variations in sensitivity to electromagnetic fields in humans. In addition to the science on detrimental effects on human health, evidence will be shared regarding environmental impacts including on pollinators such as bees as well as other diverse forms of flora and fauna. The current exposure limits will be discussed and deficits in the construction of them will be explained. Please share this invitation with parents and decision takers. COURTESY RFINFO.COM: October 2024: conference link